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U.S. Marines Arrive In Philippines To Begin Relief Efforts After Typhoon; 10,000 Feared Dead After Super Typhoon Survivors Scramble To Find Food, Water; In the Path Of A Super Typhoon; Tech Pros To Issa: "Let Todd Work."; Obama To Honor Veterans Next Hour; Iran Nuke Talks End Without Deal; Monument Scaffolding Coming Down; Navy Bribery Scandal Widens; Two Killed, 19 Injured At Texas House Party; Early Start To Black Friday Triggers Backlash; Palin Returns, Slams War On Christmas and Big Government In Iowa Speech
Aired November 11, 2013 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Is this speech a sign of things to come? We'll talk about that.
Plus this, Miley Cyrus ignites a whole new controversy. She lit up something on stage in the middle of the awards show. Me thinks it looks like a joint.
The second hour of NEWSROOM starts now.
Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for spending parts of your Veterans Day with us. At a time when the nation pauses to honor our troops, we are reminded yet, again, of their impact, not only here in this country but internationally. Right now, U.S. Marines are in the Philippines bringing emergency supplies to survivors of the one of the worst storms in recorded history.
Here's what Brigadier General Paul Kennedy told CNN about their work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGADIER GENERAL PAUL KENNEDY, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I brought my command post down here. He's working with the United States agency for international development. So there's a lot that we can do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are we going to be seeing more airplanes coming in today?
KENNEDY: I'm the leading edge of it. You'll see more Marines landing probably within a few hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The city of Tacloban hit head on by this monster storm and across the region, 942 confirmed dead. But officials fear that number or could go as high as 10,000. CNN's Andrew Stevens now from Tacloban. Good morning, Andrew.
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The rain has started and sat in quite heavily, just adding yet more misery to the people who have lost their homes, lost everything. Many of them have lost loved ones as well. It has been a devastating and a tragic past few days for this country. The president has just declared it a national calamity what happened here. Let's have a look back now over the events of the past few days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVENS (voice-over): Overnight, a weakened Haiyan, still carrying winds of more than 90 miles an hour, battered the coast of Northern Vietnam and Southern China just days after the typhoon struck the Philippines with apocalyptic force. The massive storm stretching 300 miles wide smashed through cities and it's close to 200-mile-an-hour winds and storm surge swift these gigantic ships onto land.
Early estimates as many as 10,000 may have died and over a quarter of a million people are left homeless. A half a mile from the shoreline where our CNN crew was sheltering, the surge was waist deep as we rescued a family trapped in their hotel room.
MAGINA FERNANDEZ, LOST HOME AND BUSINESS: Get international help to come here now. Not tomorrow, now. This is really, really like bad, bad, worse than hell.
STEVENS: The aftermath, a humanitarian crisis of enormous scope. Rescue workers began the grin task of finding the dead in the rubble.
MAR ROXAS, PHILIPPINE INTERIOR SECRETARY: It's really horrific. It's a great human tragedy.
STEVENS: In the city of Coron, Haiyan ripped the roof from a building where many people were sheltering.
MAYOR ALFRED ROMUALDEZ, TACLOBAN, PHILIPPINES: I have not spoken to anyone who hasn't lost someone, a relative, most of them.
STEVENS: Officials estimate most of the housing on Leyte Island was damaged or destroyed. The U.S. is flying in emergency shelters and supplies for thousands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will help them in their need.
STEVENS: And in the hard hit city of Tacloban, storm victims with no food, shelter or water rushed to the demolished airport desperate for supplies. Cebu City received a batch of rice and canned foods Sunday delivering aid to the many other remote communities is a huge challenge. While in Tacloban, key roads are impassable and communications are severed.
The only functioning medical facility can't admit any more patients. Thousands breaking into grocery and hardware stores increasingly desperate for food and water. Haiyan leaving an entire city on edge.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEVENS: It gives you an idea just the extent of the damage there, Carol, and that U.S. support couldn't come soon enough. What this country does lack is the ability to get a large amount of material out to places by air, and that's exactly what the U.S. can provide. That is what's needed so expecting to see U.S. choppers on the tarmac in front of me fairly soon. And that would -- should signal the relief effort really kicking off into high gear.
It's going to take a long time with the U.S. support and support from other countries as well I might add. Virtually every country has been offering assistance in some form or another. That's what the president of the Philippines told me yesterday. But certainly that support is going to help, but it is going to take a long, long time before they get the situation under control, before those people, those victims are fed. They've got adequate and clean water, and they've got somewhere to live.
COSTELLO: All right, Andrew Stevens live in Tacloban, Philippines, thanks so much.
As Andrew said, thousands are dead, towns in ruin. We continue our coverage this morning with CNN's Ivan Watson who takes us above the damage to show us the path of this monster storm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Following the destructive path of the storm, the shattered city of Tacloban could be described as ground zero. A surge of ocean water broke through the sea wall, washing away the airport as it then flooded the city leaving death in its path.
MURRAY ATWAAD, NEW ZEALAND TOURIST: We saw five dead bodies rolled in a plastic and one other child probably I don't know, just being carried in a plastic bag who had drowned, most of them are drowning.
WATSON: Next to the ruins of the departure terminal, desperate people line up for water. Some residents warn of looting after the storm.
(on camera): Is this just people trying or get food?
RICHARD YOUNG, BUSINESSMAN: No. I saw two people, three people, are carrying brand new refrigerators, brand new washing machines, motorcycles brand new, you know, all of -- I mean, appliances, they can't eat it.
WATSON (voice-over): From the catastrophe in Tacloban, we fly west, following the trail of the super typhoon. We accompany officials from the Civil Aviation Authority. They're trying to assess damage to other Filipino islands.
WILLIAM HOTCHKISS, GENERAL DIRECTOR, CAAP: I was 37 years in the Air Force. I've flown all over the country and I have experienced in storms before, but not to the extent this one put us into.
WATSON: Record winds damaged the other towns we saw, but fortunately they did not face the devastating tsunami-like effects of the storm surge. (on camera): The typhoon swept through here days ago and now the long, hard work of rebuilding has just begun. All of this damage was done in just a matter of hours and nobody here really knows how long it will take to truly recover.
(voice-over): But even in these less damaged regions, locals are steel reeling.
MELY FABIAN, SHOPKEEPER: No electricity, no water, and most badly we have no flights, no boat coming here so we have no food.
WATSON: In a country accustomed to typhoons, one local man described Super Typhoon Haiyan as a monster. Ivan Watson, CNN, Tacloban in the Philippines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And tonight CNN's Anderson Cooper will be in Manila for a close-up look at the destruction and how aid workers and survivors are coming together in an effort to recover. That's tonight at 8:00 and 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
The politics of Obamacare and the problems continue. The latest salvo, the plea to let Todd work, a group of technology experts are showing support for U.S. Technology Chief Todd Park. Park's working to fix the healthcare.gov website, but Republican Councilman Darrell Issa wants to hear from him as of right now. Issa has issued a subpoena for Park to testify on Capitol Hill. CNN's Jim Acosta is at the White House. So will Mr. Park show up?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are going have to wait and see, Carol. You've heard all this talk about Kathleen Sebelius the last couple of weeks. One name you have not heard is Todd Park, but that is going to change it week. This battle has been quietly brewing for about a week now, Carol.
First, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Darryl Issa said he wanted to hear from White House Chief Technology Officer Todd Park at a hearing on the Obamacare website set for Wednesday. The White House first said no, Park is too busy because he's working to fix the web site. So Issa fired back with a subpoena on Friday to force Park to testify.
Over the weekend now, some of the supporters of Todd Park, get this, they started a web site that is called "Let Todd Work." And the web site calls on Issa to back off. The web site says, quote, "No matter what side of the aisle that you sit on, Todd is one of the good guys. Let him do his job.
Now the top Democrats on the committee that is chaired by Issa are accusing him of selectively leaking documents on the Obama troubles, but Issa says it's the White House that it's not playing it straight giving conflicting stories about the testing that was done on the web site before it was launched.
And all this comes, Carol, as this very crucial week is emerging for the Obama administration. The administration is set to release its first set of Obamacare enrollment numbers sometime this week. When those numbers come out, we are going to get a really big indication as to how many people have been able to sign up.
Of course, all of that has been impacted by the big problems with the website. So we are going to have wait and see if Todd Park testifies. The battle is not over yet -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jim Acosta reporting live from the White House this morning.
On this Veterans Day, President Obama is honoring America's war dead about an hour from now with a wreathe laying at the Tomb of the Unknown. That will be followed by an observance event also at Arlington National Cemetery. Earlier this morning, the president held a breakfast for veterans and their families.
Also, hopes were high this weekend that a deal could be struck in Geneva to contain Iran's nuclear program. But after a flurry I have diplomatic activity, the talks ended without an agreement. Many Iranians expressed deep disappointment. They are hoping the deal will lead to the easing of economic sanctions. Secretary of State John Kerry disputed reports of disagreement among some of the foreign ministers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: No agreement has been reached about the end-game here. That's the subject of the negotiation. The sanctions were put in place in order to bring about a negotiation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All parties will return to Geneva in ten days to try again.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, 555 feet of magnificent, the Washington Monument repairs are done. But not everyone is happy to see the scaffolding come down. Erin McPike live in Washington this morning.
ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the scaffolding will start coming down tomorrow. It will take about three weeks to come down and the hope is the monument can open next spring.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: OK, we want to take you 555 feet up into the air. These men are atop the Washington Monument. They're about to take down the scaffolding that's been surrounding the monument since that earthquake two years ago. Remember, the Washington Monument was damaged. They put the scaffolding up so they could repair the thing. Can you imagine working way up there?
They couldn't give me enough money. That's insane. I'm glad they're up there because soon that scaffolding will be down. It will take them a couple of months. Let's head out to Washington and Erin McPike, she is standing by live. It looks scary up there, but invigorating at the same time to some, I suppose.
MCPIKE: Yes, Carol. The scaffolding will take about three weeks to come down. Now that earthquake that you mentioned from August 2011, that caused 150 cracks in the exterior of the Washington Monument. So they have been repairing that and those repairs are now about 80 percent complete. Now after the scaffolding comes down in the next three weeks, they're going to continue to make repairs.
The interior is about 30 percent complete as far as that kind of reconstruction goes, but here's the thing about this. In Washington, a lot of people actually have liked the view of the scaffolding because it lights up the monument at night.
So the superintendent of the national mall put out a statement the other day and said I know the decorative scaffolding is popular and will be missed, but we are excited that this brings us one step closer to re-opening the monument as a historical and cultural icon. And they expect that the moment will re-open sometime in the spring of 2014 -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It does look kind of cool, I mean, really, especially when it's lit up at night. But I kind of miss the simplicity of the monument, you know, just the beautiful white pillar reaching into the sky.
MCPIKE: Yes. Carol, the other thing about this is we're not done with scaffolding in Washington. The capitol dome is about 150 years old. It hasn't undergone a full rehabilitation since 1950 and there are actually 1,000 or more crack in the Capitol Dome so scaffolding going up on the dome in the next couple of months. And that kind of reconstruction will go on for the next two years -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Wow. Well, we're glad the Washington Monument will open up soon. There is a picture of that Capitol Dome. Erin McPike, thanks for filling us in. We appreciate it.
Checking our top stories at 17 minutes past, the U.S. Navy has suspended two senior officers' access to classified material in connection with an ongoing bribery investigation. Rear Admiral Bruce Lovelace and Vice Admiral Ted Branch have been put on temporary leave. The Navy says there's no indication there was a breach of classified information and neither has been charged with a crime. But the NCIS is investigating possible illegal relations with a Navy contractor. That man, Leonard Francis and three other Navy officials have been arrested.
Two high schoolers are dead after gunfire broke out at a birthday party near Houston. Police say a party-goer fired his gun into the air in celebration and that's when a second person fired back. More than 100 people were at the party when a frenzy broke out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He came out and ran into the car, and he was banging on the car to open the door, open the door and they shot him. He fell right there. We saw him take his last breath. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Nineteen people injured in all. Police is still looking for two suspects.
A one-ton satellite burned up as it northward the earth this morning. The GOCE satellite had been mapping the earth's gravitational field since 2009, but it re-entry ran out of fuel and began descending back to earth. It's re-entry into the atmosphere stretched from Siberia to Antarctica.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, you're going to have to hurry up and cook the turkey if you want to score some Black Friday deals. We'll tell you which retail giant is the latest to open its door before the clock strikes midnight on Thanksgiving Day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: If you're planning to stand outside in line to store some crazy Black Friday shopping deals, you may have to head out earlier than usual. Best Buy will open its doors at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving instead of at midnight. The retail giant is just the latest store to kick off the holiday season early. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, yes, Carol, Best Buy jumping on the band wagon too. The electronics giant joining that huge growing list of retailers doing the same, JCPenny, Sears, Khols, Macy's, Toy's R Us, K-Mart, everybody opening early on Thanksgiving. You know, this is kind of turning into one of those competitions of who can open first.
Best Buy is opening its stores at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving, so it's obviously getting a jump on the big chunk of retailers that are opening their doors at 8 p.m. But K-mart is beating everybody out. K-Mart is opening from 41 hours straight, from 6:00 a.m. Thanksgiving morning until 11 p.m. on Black Friday.
I know it's crazy. This is different from last year. It's not going to close its doors for few hours right around dinner, you know, before you say it. I know, this may sound ridiculous, but it really seems to be what people want. You know for all the outrage and all the judgment calls that people are making, these stores aren't exactly empty on Thanksgiving. There are people packing it in and spending their money on that special day.
COSTELLO: I know because if you go on K-mart's Facebook page, a lot of angry comments are on the page, but you're right, I actually think people will be in the store at 6:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning before dinner is ready.
KOSIK: And you talk about these complaints. We certainly saw complaints with K-mart, on Best Buy's Facebook page. Shoppers on Best Buy's Facebook page are saying Best Buy should be ashamed of itself, that it's pathetic, but come on, everybody needs to take a chill pill here. Black Friday weekend brought in $59 billion last year total for retailers.
And this year shoppers say they're planning to spend less. Think about it, starting one day early can really help offset that especially since Thanksgiving is happening so late this week. You look on Best Buy's Facebook page, one employee says he's excited to work because he'll time and a half and have extra money to spend on Christmas -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Alison Kosik reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.
The original head of the Tea Party edges back into the political scene, and Sarah Palin says Christmas is under attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FORMER GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: That little plastic baby doll that's nestled in a dusty hay field manger gives such offense to an angry atheist armed with an attorney.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Could this speech to Iowa conservatives mean something bigger for Palin's political future? We'll talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: She's back. Sarah Palin is edging herself back into politics and selling a book at the same time. The book is called "Good Tidings And Great Joy, Protecting The Heart Of Christmas," and that certainly was the theme for Palin this weekend when she spoke at an important Iowa gathering surrounded by Tea Party stalwarts. Her message: Christmas is under assault from atheist and secular forces and portends a larger battle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: The war on Christmas is just the tip of the spear and a larger battle to marginalized expressions of faith and make America's true religious freedom just a thing of the past so often, the people who are too enlightened for religion, for church, they're the very same people who have a zealot-like faith of their own church, which happens to be the church of big government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: A church of big government that certainly was the theme. Joining me now, CNN political commentator, Ana Navarro, she is in New York, and in Wisconsin, CNN commentator and ESPN senior writer, L.Z. Granderson. Welcome to you both.
L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN COMMENTATOR: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning. So Ana, is Sarah Palin's message resonating for most Republicans? ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Carol, I don't know what to tell you. I think, look, Sarah Palin is no longer a Republican elected official. She's a commentator. She is somebody wanting to sell books. I think that when she said something controversial, when she does this type of thing and then gets attention by what she's surely going to call the "lamestream media," which I think means you and me, it's good for book sales.
